“There’s gotta be rain onstage, so we’re making it rain,” Strawser said, keeping the details under wraps until the March 6 debut.

“When we chose the show, we knew there were some unique technical challenges – one is rain, and the other is the black and white films that have to be shown using the cast,” he said.

Many area schools are staging “classic” musicals this year, but Strawser doesn’t really consider Lower Dauphin’s show in that realm. “Singin’ in the Rain” is a much-loved classic film, but it didn’t become a musical until 1985, he said.

“We’ve been wanting to do this show for years. It finally felt like the right year,” Strawser said, adding he likes to do tap shows now and then. “We’re super-excited to follow up ‘Beauty and the Beast’ with something as spectacular.”

Another dance-heavy show is “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” at Northern High School, which is another “retro” musical. It will hit the stage March 7-9.

“There’s a lot of dancing in this show – it’s not a big chorus show,” said director Laura Bissell, but that didn’t dissuade her from choosing it. While there are some experienced dancers in the cast, choreographer Samantha Jones helps make dancers out of some with “two left feet,” Bissell said.

“We’re a smaller school – have to pick show I know we have kids who can do it,” Bissell said, adding that the casting demands worked this year. “This is a show that requires a lot of boys, and I’m really trying to recruit boys,” she said. “We have just enough – I needed 16 at least, and I got it.”

The stage version is a little different from the classic musical many remember with Howard Kiel. But it has many of the same choreography, like a big barn-raising dance.

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